A progress report on the new board?

NYboro said:
It doesn't look to me like it would make much difference.
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You're right, it was something I looked at later on (having originally suggested it) and saw that unless the username and timestamp were put on the same line, there wouldn't be any space saved by removing the profile photo.

My suggestion for a compact view is based on how the old messageboard works in terms of having a lot of threads very clearly on show. Threads with no replies can often get close to the oblivion of dropping onto the next page, only to have a saving reply which kicks off a discussion. Yes, it will be possible to scroll through the posts, but it does decrease the likelihood of quieter posts being noticed. The character of the messageboard is all about the diversity of topics all mixed in together.
 
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I'm not particularly bothered about avatars, they bring nothing to the board for me, it's someone's reference as a picture as well as a name, that's all.

I prefer the layout of the old board, each thread takes up far less space, less scrolling required to find a topic you're interested in, that ay be available on this board but I'd have to look into it and I haven't the time to do it. So yes, compact does it for me too.
 
I'd like the ignore thread button to be included, which is definitely a thing on this site software, just so I can unclutter my thread list of things that I've little interest in reading or clicking on.
 
I'm on a PC, not a mobile. It's a tidier layout on the old board, easier to glance through, that's all.

I know the little pictures do appeal to many, just not for me. I know it's you without a picture of a dog being shown.
 
Would make it boring, dull, utilitarian, etc. Basically everything that's just been moved away from after years of languishing and people flocking to social media fan sites instead.

Why have the FMTTM image? you know you're on the FMTTM site. Why have icons at all, or even smilies.

Why not strip it and just have plain text? We can phone in with our dial up connections and download it BBS style.

We don't even need red colours, we know it's a boro site. We can just think about red while we look at the black and white text.

Do we even need spaces between words? Could fit more words per line that way, and more posts per page. Perhaps we could even abbreviate words to save on wasting precious screen space.

Ads will have to go too I'm afraid Rob. Perhaps you could get advertisers to describe their products in a few characters - 10 or less - and slot them in where theres any space?
 
Robert Nichols said:
In my experience no one pays for anything on line.
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Netflix, Amazon Prime etc...

That said ad supported is clearly big in terms of making online content pay, however I would pay a small monthly or yearly fee to access this site without ads (I do use an adblocker generally but feel sites like this deserve our support). If you could set the fee at circa what you make in terms of ad revenue per user then it's an option for those who want it as ad blockers are very effective now.
 
Or I should say no one buys anything off me online.
I don't know that I could afford to do it, to be honest. Thr fanzine is just over break even for the print cost. The website is almost a half of the imcome for the same hits. Despite what you may think that has never really fallen off.
 
But Rob what's being suggested is an optional subscription that makes the site ad free. If you don't pay you get ads. How could you lose?

Fanzines are clearly a different product due to people wanting to read them at the ground but most content is now seeing massive digital take-up - I couldn't tell you the last time I bought a paper book yet I buy and read books all the time.
 
Primus84 said:
But Rob what's being suggested is an optional subscription that makes the site ad free. If you don't pay you get ads. How could you lose?

Fanzines are clearly a different product due to people wanting to read them at the ground but most content is now seeing massive digital take-up - I couldn't tell you the last time I bought a paper book yet I buy and read books all the time.
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I subscribe to the PDF version of the fanzine as I live overseas, sadly, I don't think there are very many of us.
Yes, I do voluntarily support The Guardian. I would hate to see an honest paper go under.
 
NYboro said:
I subscribe to the PDF version of the fanzine as I live overseas, sadly, I don't think there are very many of us.
Yes, I do voluntarily support The Guardian. I would hate to see an honest paper go under.
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I subscribe to the PDF version of the fanzine as well. That makes 2 of us.
 
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Should look at doing a digital membership option that subscribe you to FMTTM pdf version and removes ads. Less printing costs for you Rob, no postage costs, and builds in a set profit that you’d be unlikely to hit per user on ad impressions alone

i'd also suggest looking into affiliate marketing - automatically converting links to eBay and amazon to an affiliate link that gets you a share of any purchase made. Very easy to do and may only be small potatoes but every little helps.
 
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TheFair86 said:
Should look at doing a digital membership option that subscribe you to FMTTM pdf version and removes ads. Less printing costs for you Rob, no postage costs, and builds in a set profit.

i'd also suggest looking into affiliate marketing - automatically converting links to eBay and amazon to an affiliate link that gets you a share of any purchase made. Very easy to do and may only be small potatoes but every little helps.
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I would be very willing to upgrade my PDF fanzine subscription to one including an ad free board. If the price increase was not ridiculous. It seems like a sensible business model for you for the future to me.
 
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